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Above: Side view of the flying saucer design attributed to the Italian engineer Francesco de Beaumont, showing the undercarriage. This design may be based on the alleged World War Two Heinkel-BMW V-7. via Bill Rose Right: Luftwaffe pilot Andreas Epp, who claimed to have submitted designs later used to develop the flying discs built at Prague. via Bill Rose Above: Side view of the flying saucer design attributed to the Italian engineer Francesco de Beaumont, showing the undercarriage. This design may be based on the alleged World War Two Heinkel-BMW V-7. via Bill Rose ing to have witnessed this event have said uted to Miethe, with reports that it used an His flying disc story first came to light in that V7 achieved supersonic speed during the advanced boundary layer reduction system March 1950, when Der Spiegel magazine pub- first test flight and climbed to an altitude of and was capable of supersonic speed. How- _ lished an article about him. Several newspa- almost 40,000ft (12,192m). This scenario ever, it seems unlikely that V8 progressed per interviews followed and_ Schriever sounds ridiculous and it is hard to imagine beyond the conceptual stage and in reality insisted that blueprints for his flying saucer anything more than a brief tethered lift-off this design is probably little more than the — had fallen into Soviet hands, enabling the being attempted on an initial test flight. product of someone’s fertile imagination. Russians to build long-range reconnaissance Intriguingly, Major Rudolph Lusar, the author When the war ended Rudolph Schriever craft (which were responsible for numerous of German Secret Weapons of the Second made his way home to war-torn Bremer- UFO sightings). Curiously, the Americans, World War, stated that Schriever and Haber- haven, where he was lucky enough to secure __ British and Russians showed no apparent mohl undertook the first flight of V7! Some — ajob driving for the US Army. Bearingin mind _ interest in Schriever and some researchers reports have implied that the Waffen SS that most Germans were prepared to do _ insist this proves that he was a little unbal- destroyed V7 when Field Marshal Wilhelm whatever it took to put bread on the table, this anced and his flying saucer story was pure Keitel ratified the terms of surrender on 9th was a stroke of good fortune for the former fantasy. May 1945. engineer. During the remainder of his life Adding to the German flying disc mystery Alternatively, there are suggestions that V7_ Schriever attempted to have his flying saucer was former Luftwaffe officer Andreas Epp, fell into Soviet hands, along with an even _ story taken seriously and he finally died in who also originated from Bremerhaven. Until more advanced flying disc called V8 that was __ rather mysterious circumstances during the his death in 1997, Epp regularly claimed to nearing completion. The design of V8 is attrib- — mid-1950s. have designed a small disc-shaped target drone while stationed in Norway during the War. Apparently, he forwarded plans to Armaments Minister Ernst Udet but heard nothing more. Epp said that some months later he discovered that development of his disc design was under way at Prague. Epp went on to claim that after the war he was recruited by Soviet intelligence to work in Russia on a prototype flying saucer and he was given responsibility for the design of this aircraft's control system. While this is an intriguing story it remains impossible to verify any of the details. Various scraps of information about Miethe suggest that he escaped from Czechoslovakia in early May 1945 and headed west, finally making contact with American Intelligence. According to several reports, Miethe was Artwork depiction of the Heinkel-BMW V-8 supersonic disc. It is probable that this design is little more than a product of someone’s imagination! Bill Rose “4 Se 42 Right: Luftwaffe pilot Andreas Epp, who claimed to have submitted designs later used to develop the flying discs built at Prague. via Bill Rose Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft